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Joint Oireachtas Committee on Children and Youth Affairs: Estimates for Public Services 2016: Vote 40 – Department of Children and Youth Affairs (5 Oct 2016)

Katherine Zappone: The figure is quite low across the board; 5% do not have a social worker but we need to bring that down to 0%. It is important to identify that. The second aspect of the Chairman's question referred to the services that need to be accessed for children even if there is a social worker and he or she is effective and meets with the child regularly. I am aware of all the challenges in that...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Children and Youth Affairs: Estimates for Public Services 2016: Vote 40 – Department of Children and Youth Affairs (5 Oct 2016)

Katherine Zappone: I will ask Mr. Dermot Ryan or Ms Michele Clarke to respond.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Children and Youth Affairs: Estimates for Public Services 2016: Vote 40 – Department of Children and Youth Affairs (5 Oct 2016)

Katherine Zappone: That is one specific example of the efforts by me and the Department to ensure improvements in inter-agency co-operation in terms of Tusla and other agencies, which we are aware is a challenging issue. It is important to examine specific settings, arenas and examples of how to do that. This is one area to do that in.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Children and Youth Affairs: Estimates for Public Services 2016: Vote 40 – Department of Children and Youth Affairs (5 Oct 2016)

Katherine Zappone: Yes, absolutely.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Children and Youth Affairs: Estimates for Public Services 2016: Vote 40 – Department of Children and Youth Affairs (5 Oct 2016)

Katherine Zappone: Deputy Ó Laoghaire asked about pay, particularly in respect of the ECCE programme, and how the Department is responding in terms of capitation rates and so on. We are aware this is a huge issue. As the Deputy may know, I launched a report, Breaking Point, this week, which highlighted the particular problem in the context of community services and children who are disadvantaged. Our...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Children and Youth Affairs: Estimates for Public Services 2016: Vote 40 – Department of Children and Youth Affairs (5 Oct 2016)

Katherine Zappone: I do.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Children and Youth Affairs: Estimates for Public Services 2016: Vote 40 – Department of Children and Youth Affairs (5 Oct 2016)

Katherine Zappone: A question was asked about the area-based childhood, ABC, programme. We are contractually committed to all of the ABC programme sites until June 2017, and we will fund accordingly. I am seeking money in the budget for a continuation of the programmes until the end of 2017. I am also going to examine closely the results of the evaluations. Evaluations of the ABC programmes are under way...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Children and Youth Affairs: Estimates for Public Services 2016: Vote 40 – Department of Children and Youth Affairs (5 Oct 2016)

Katherine Zappone: It is a complicated question and a complicated and difficult scheme. That is one of the primary reasons we are working carefully and diligently to ensure we have a new one.

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Public Sector Staff Retirements (5 Oct 2016)

Katherine Zappone: My Department does not make pension payments to retired civil servants. All Civil Service pensions are paid directly by the Paymaster General's Office which falls under the aegis of my colleague, the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform. As such I am not in a position to provide the information requested.

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Youth Services Data (5 Oct 2016)

Katherine Zappone: I propose to take Questions Nos. 243 and 244 together. My Department administers a range of funding schemes and programmes to support the provision of youth services to young people throughout the country including those from disadvantaged communities. The funding schemes support national and local youth work provision to some 380,000 young people and involve approximately 1,400 youth...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Preschool Services (4 Oct 2016)

Katherine Zappone: From the beginning of the 2016/2017 Programme year, the processing of payments for ECCE is being managed by Pobal. The Department is mindful that service providers need to manage cash flow and, therefore, the ECCE payment schedule was posted on the Programme Implementation Platform (PIP) on 1st September 2016. Providers can now also check payments on PIP for themselves. The Department...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Child Care Services Regulation (4 Oct 2016)

Katherine Zappone: I assume the Deputy is referring to the Child Care Act 1991 (Early Years Services) Regulations 2016 which commenced on 30th June last. The new Regulations replace the Pre-School Service Regulations 2006. The new Regulations contain a number of new requirements that must be satisfied by the providers of pre-school service, both private and community/not-for-profit, including a minimum...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Child and Family Agency (4 Oct 2016)

Katherine Zappone: I wish to reassure the Deputy that Tusla, the Child and Family Agency, has not made any agreement with the company referred to in her previous question, to utilise the assessment service described. I must also stress that Tusla does not place children who have been received into care in residential centres that are not registered. The requirements for placing a child in a children's...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Child and Family Agency Staff (4 Oct 2016)

Katherine Zappone: The information requested is not readily available in my Department. My officials have requested the information from Tusla and I will forward the reply to the Deputy once I have been furnished with it.

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Departmental Strategy Statements (4 Oct 2016)

Katherine Zappone: It is important that every effort is made by public bodies to meet their obligations to promote equality, prevent discrimination and protect the human rights of their employees and everyone affected by their functions and services. For my Department, this has a particular resonance in the context of our dealings with children and young people and the many and varied levels of engagement on...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Departmental Staff Data (4 Oct 2016)

Katherine Zappone: I am not aware of any retired civil servant from my Department who is in receipt of a civil service pension and has been re-employed in the public sector. Where an employee retires from this Department and is re-employed in another public sector body, it is the responsibility of that body to inform the relevant authority. I have requested the required information from bodies under the...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Departmental Staff Data (4 Oct 2016)

Katherine Zappone: At end September 2016, there were 184 people employed by my Department, equating to a whole time equivalent number of 171.76 members of staff. This figure includes staff seconded to the Department at that date as well as Temporary Clerical Officers employed by my Department at that date.

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Preschool Services (29 Sep 2016)

Katherine Zappone: As this is a service matter, I have asked the Child and Family Agency/Tusla to consider the Deputy’s request, to liaise with the Health Service Executive, if required and to respond directly to the Deputy with the information he requests in no later than 10 working days. I have asked my officials to follow up on this and to ensure delivery of the information to the Deputy as a matter...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Family Resource Centres (29 Sep 2016)

Katherine Zappone: I can confirm that I recently received a pre-budget submission for 2017, from the Family Resource Centre National Forum, seeking additional funding to support the Family Resource Centre Programme funded by Tusla, the Child and Family Agency. There are currently 109 communities supported through the Family and Community Services Resource Centre Programme. Tusla provides core funding to...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Area Based Childhood Programme (29 Sep 2016)

Katherine Zappone: The Area Based Childhood (ABC) Programme is a joint prevention and early intervention initiative led by my Department and The Atlantic Philanthropies. The ABC Programme commenced in 2013 and was co-funded for the period 2013 to 2017 in the amount of €29.7m, providing areas with multi annual budgets. The aim of the programme is to test and evaluate prevention and early intervention...